Sounds as though this will call for a ruling, once I've had a chance to review the play. Until then, we will not say that Horvath's error was in judgment but rather in timing and execution.
Lockyer heads home a corner kick to make it 1-1. Don't need to debate Steffen's role in this one - ball was placed about eight yards out, no chance for Steffen to get it, and perfectly placed pinging off the post and in.
Horvath grabs a cross rolled across the face of goal! Allow us to celebrate a good job at a moderately difficult play by an American in this match./
Steffen got him. Not a lot of contact but when you come flying off your line unnecessarily and make yourself big late, you open yourself up to being exposed and called for a foul, even when there’s not a lot on contact. Steffen didn’t even argue nor did his ‘mates. He knew.
He knew ... that a loss is (for some reason) a satisfactory result. No Akpom today, no subs as of 75' (Luton Town w/ 3 subs). Middlesbrough aren't trying to lose, they're not tanking, but they're not putting their best foot forward, either. Edit: Boro finally make a sub at 78', taking out Archer the goal-scorer, lest he try to score again. Luton with the full 5 subs.
There's no meaningful difference between finishing 3rd or 4th and Carrick clearly wanted to make sure he's got a healthy, rested squad for the playoffs.
The home team has now won each of the last 3 meetings between Luton and Boro by a score of 2-1. $10 says a Wembley final goes to penalties.
May as well have the most exciting 0-0 ever at Wembley, with both keepers literally* standing on their heads - their own heads, not each other's heads - 0-0 still after 10 PKs/side, until each takes a spot-kick, and then ... the suspense is killing me.** ++++++++++++ * Yes, I know what literally means. ** Not literally.
They had virtually nothing to do. Luton had three shots on goal (including the PK) and Steffen saved one of them; Boro had one shot on goal, that Horvath didn't save. I was watching two other games at around the same time. The difference is very obvious to me: the Championship has very few shots on goal, so it doesn't test keepers much. The number of shots to Row Z is much greater. You can do this sort of comparison any day:
For anyone actually interested the real numbers of SoT by league, outside of the TOP 5 in the EPL and the Bottom 3 in the EFL Champs, the SOT/90 range is nearly identical. There's an analysis of the top CL clubs and top league relegation teams from 2013 floating around on the web that show similar results. Yes, the very best teams in the very best leagues have the very best SoTA %, but in the middle and bottom of the leagues it's pretty similar. https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/2013/1/17/3880454/a-look-at-shots-on-target-epl
Spread over the entire season, a 0.2 difference is noticeable and 0.5 is big. The Top 5 have a range from 3.9 (La Liga, Serie A) to 4.41 (Bundesliga) for the season so far. That 0.51 is considered big. 3.6 for the EFL Championship so far this season is considerably lower. You'd be hard-pressed to find any first division in Europe with lower numbers. 3.6 was what the Greek League was reporting back when Adu played there.
Well, I suppose it depends on what one considers "big." Removing top 5 EPL clubs and bottom 3 EFL Champ clubs and the range for both leagues is nearly identical. But clearly professional scouts have no trouble adjusting for the "big" difference in SoT per game between leagues and teams when evaluating players. Individual poster mileage may vary.
Horvath starts against a much more desperate Blackburn side fighting for its playoff life. Blackburn dominating possession and forced two reasonably challenging Horvath saves just now, including a blasted one that he did well to stop and keep possession instead of a long rebound or corner kick. Praise from the commentator.
With Steffen's loss earlier in the day, Luton are locked into third, and sort of acting like it. Halftime.
Luton come out strong in the second half, and after an extended corner kick play, Lockyer head home a Morris cross to make it 1-0. Blackburn would be all but mathematically done unless they can reverse this - they're coming for Horvath now.
Horvath catches a cross about ten yards out to end an attack. Lots of fight out there but Blackburn don't have a SOG this half, closest was one deflected just wide through traffic.
Luton - Bradley header off the crossbar while the keeper was still wide of the post after missing a punch of the initial cross.